Peter Foster is the Telegraph's US Editor based in Washington DC. He moved to America in January 2012 after three years based in Beijing, where he covered the rise of China. Before that, he was based in New Delhi as South Asia correspondent. He has reported for The Telegraph for more than a decade, covering two Olympic Games, 9/11 in New York, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the post-conflict phases in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

China Anniversary: kites, knives and pigeons all banned

Just quick note today as I'm still shaking from the aerial 'bombardment' of my office by half the Chinese air force which flew past the window this lunchtime on a practice run for the National Day parade next week.

I must confess not to being a plane-spotter, but basically there were a lot of bristly, pointy things flying down Chang'an Avenue at near roof-top height, followed by several squadrons of slower, whirly things chugging along behind. All very impressive. Formations looked very tight from where I was sitting and no-one crashed, so 'mission accomplished' I guess.

Beijing feels kind of under siege at the moment with this anniversary business. The local paper says that kite flying has been banned, which must be true since I haven't seen any for days. This saddens me, as I love watching Beijing's kites and miss the sight of them out of my appartment window, particularly at night when they fly with neon-lit tails.

(When I first arrived in BJ I mistook these hovering, glimmering things for a UFO, calling my wife to the balcony in great excitement. This sounds ridiculous but they fly at such an astonishingly high altitude, I maintain it was an easy mistake to make.)

The paper also says flying pigeons is banned until after National Day (didn't realise China was a nation of pigeon fanciers) but I can't testify personally to this, since I've not seen much in the way of racing pigeons since arriving here.

More seriously, security, already incredibly tight for days now, has reached at 'extreme' levels following two stabbing incidents in the city this past week which resulted in the death of three people, including a Frenchwoman at the weekend.

This recalls the fatal stabbing of a supporting member of the US team at the Drum and Bell Tower during last year's Olympic Games. As a foreigner in Beijing (a very safe city generally speaking), I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly unnerved by the though that I could get stabbed by a mad nationalist for no other reason than being foreign.

However, as a result of these attacks, the government has ordered the removal of all knives from sale in Beijing. We shouldn't laugh about something so serious, but I can't think of anything that so typifies the absolute absurdity of government in China sometimes.

No doubt it was intended as a move to 'reassure the public', but honestly, even the most inept of murderers should be able to find a kitchen knife without having to go out shopping. What next? Police going door-to-door ordering all of the cities 18 million residents to 'hand over their knives'?